Research News: January 2017

Bangor Law School’s Institute for Competition & Procurement Studies (ICPS) has recently been notified of a major grant success under the European Union’s COSME fund – a funding programme designed to raise competitiveness of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the EU and to help the EU implement the requirements of the Small Business Act (the overarching framework for EU policy on SMEs).

The international law of armed conflict seeks to protect civilians and those no longer taking part in hostilities from the worst effects of war. Serious violations of these laws covering armed conflict situations constitute war crimes. War crimes are a particular category of international crime, which can be tried by international criminal tribunals, like the International Criminal Court (ICC).

A new project has been set up in collaboration between the University's School of Healthcare Sciences and Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) to develop a new programme to promote best practice in infection prevention.

The trial of Dominic Ongwen before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague is like none other springing from the killing fields of the Great Lakes of Africa. These include the prosecution of the first person ever to be convicted by the ICC, Thomas Lubanga. He was accused of mass human rights violations as a rebel leader in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Also ongoing is the trial of Bosco Ntaganda, another Congolese.

Bangor University is involved in new consortium to establish National Aquaculture and Development Centre (NADC) in Tanzania to help tackle poverty and undernutrition.

Tanzania, perhaps best known for safaris over its vast open plains, has ambitious plans for diminutive freshwater wildlife with enormous, untapped potential.

Tilapia, second only to carp as the world’s most frequently farmed fish, live in huge numbers in the Great Lakes (Victoria, Tanganyika, Malawi/Nyasa) that cover six percent of the country. The lakes are considered a global biodiversity hotspot – one of only 25 worldwide - due to the hundreds of species of cichlid fish, including some of the 30-odd known subspecies of tilapia that are found in Tanzania.

However, Tanzanians eat on average only 8kg of fish per year, less than half the international average of 17kg. Around a third of children under five are deficient in iron and vitamin A, contributing to stunting, while about a third of women between 15-49 years old are deficient in iron, vitamin A and iodine.

We live in a society where care of young and old is increasingly segregated, with very limited opportunity for the two age groups to interact. If we just thought a little more socially, however, these “book end generations” could become great resources for each other – all we need to do is put them in the same place.